Ryan Gosling stars in The Fall Guy as stunt man Colt Seavers, recreating the role of Lee Majors played in the ’80s TV series. The connection stops there, making one briefly wonder why they even bothered to get the rights to the intellectual property. This could just as easily have been a Hooper reboot. Regardless, director/producer David Leitch has created a delightful, genre-blending movie that should appeal to fans of detective stories, romantic comedies, and above all, action.
Buy The Fall Guy Blu-rayColt is the stunt man for Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the biggest action star of the day. During a stunt from a great height, Colt breaks his back. He leaves the business and the budding relationship with camera assistant Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). Eighteen months later, producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) wants Colt to come to Australia to double on Tom’s latest project, a remake of the science fiction movie Metalstrom. Colt refuses until he learns Jody is the movie’s director and asked for him.
Once there, Colt learns Jody did not want him on the movie because of how their relationship ended. Gail actually called Colt because Tom has gone missing after hanging with some “very bad people. She needs Colt to save the movie and find Tom. While working on Metalstorm, the chemistry between Colt and Jody grows. While working on Tom’s whereabouts, the danger for Colt grows. So much so, he becomes a different type of “fall guy” and gets framed for murder.
Gosling gives a star turn as both the reluctant detective and the eager love interest. The playful banter between him and Blunt is charming and they should reunite in another romantic comedy. Taylor-Johnson inhabits the ego-driven movie star well.
Leitch and the stunt team deliver fun, fresh action, from fights to car work to a fight that combines them as Colt fights bad guys in a garbage bin that’s towed through the streets. The one criticism of the action scenes I have is that stunt men, while they certainly risk life and limb and I am a big fan of their work, usually incorporate planning and protection into their stunts. Yet, Colt frequently does things away from the set without either, such as fights and falls with bad guys, and yet, with a bad back, gets right up, almost as if he’s superhuman.
While it seems like there are incongruent stories taking place, screenwriter Drew Pearce has them coalesce together in a way that it all makes sense. Although at over two hours, the movie felt a touch long. At one point, the movie felt like it was approaching the end of the story, but when I looked at the clock, there were 56 minutes to go. The Blu-ray comes with an Extended Cut, but I am almost certain the movie doesn’t need an extra 20 minutes.
The Blu-ray has been given a 1080p/MPEG-4 AVC encoded transfer displayed at the movie’s original aspect ratio of 2.39:1. Colors shine in a spectrum of bright, bold hues. Blacks are inky and night scenes offers solid shadow delineation. The image delivers sharp focus, fine texture details, and a strong contrast throughout.
The Dolby Atmos defaults to Dolby TrueHD 7.1. As expected, the action scenes deliver. Sound effects erupt through the surrounds and move across channels as required. The subwoofer comes through with oomph as the low end anchors the bottom for effects and music. Dialogue is consistently clear out the front center channel and ambient effects augment the scenes.
The Blu-ray offer’s Bonus Features include an audio commentary with director/producer David Leitch and producer Kelly McCormick as well as the following, viewable altogether through a Play-All option:
- Gag Reel (5 min)
- Alternate Takes (6 min) – Five scenes, including an action scene where they didn’t finish the effects.
- Stunts of Stunts: Breaking Down the Action (19 min) – Viewable separately or altogether, a look at how five scenes were executed
- Making a Meta Masterpiece (16 min) – Tells the story of how the project came to fruition.
- How to Break a World Record (6 min) – the stunt team attempts to roll a car seven times.
- Nightclub Mayhem (3 min) – a look at the nightclub fight scene.
- The Art of Doubling (4 min) – Ben Jenkin, Gosling’s stunt double, gets some face time.
- Making Metalstorm (5 min) – The crew gets to play with the movie within the movie
- Falling for The Fall Guy (4 min) – Granted “professional parkour athlete” may cause an involuntary action to reach for the remote, but Bob Reese recreates the stunts from the movie.
The Fall Guy puts Hollywood’s unsung hero, the stunt man, in the spotlight of this entertaining industry send-up. It could turn one into a fan of Ryan Gosling or David Leitch, if they aren’t already. There’s also a fun cameo mid-credits scene. The Blu-ray delivers a pleasing high-definition presentation.
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